Press Release
New car park opened ahead of Easter
26 April 2011
New car park opened ahead of Easter
26 April 2011
- New £17 million North Terminal car park is located a stone’s throw away from check-in
- Additional 1,177 car parking spaces will support Gatwick’s ambitions for growth
- New car park built in a record nine months
Gatwick Airport last week (Wednesday 20 April) opened a new £17 million short stay, six-storey car park conveniently located a stones throw way from the North Terminal check-in area. It has the capacity to hold an additional 1,177 passenger cars, taking the total number of parking spaces available at the airport to 32,600.
Gatwick worked hard to drive down construction costs in line with its commitment to deliver the £1 billion capital investment programme more efficiently. Comparing Gatwick’s costs with benchmarked data, shows that Gatwick built the concrete structure of the car park for around 25% less than other car parks within the UK. The average cost to build the concrete structure is £6,250 per parking space. Gatwick delivered its car park for an average cost of £4,785 per space.
Gatwick also delivered this project within just nine months, having used pre-cast structural concrete members and panels.
This new short stay car park is also one of many projects being delivered by Gatwick to help support its ambitions for growth. Gatwick is competing to grow and become London’s airport of choice and can see a clear path towards 40 million passengers per year by the end of the decade with its single runway and two terminals. Much of the investment in the North Terminal, such as the new short stay car park, is geared towards increasing its capacity to accommodate a further 10 million passengers each year by 2018.
Raymond Melee, Director of Capital Projects at Gatwick Airport, said: “Gatwick now has 32,600 long and short-stay parking spaces, and because this new car park links directly to the terminal and new forecourt area it offers passengers the ultimate in terms of convenience. In addition, we have installed an electronic floor by floor car monitoring system to enable visitors to easily select an empty parking space. This is a great feature for those time strapped passengers.”
When planning the car park project, Gatwick made passenger convenience central to the design. There is a designated passenger pick-up area on the ground floor and a new car rental facility on the second enabling speedy getaways.
By October, a new walkway, currently under construction, will connect the fourth floor of the car park directly to the check-in area, which will make the transfer time from the car park to terminal even quicker than it is today. Furthermore, every floor has designated passenger help points with seating areas for those waiting for assistance.
Media enquiries to:
Gatwick Airport press office
Tel: + 44 (0) 1293 505000
Email: gatwickmedia@gatwickairport.com
